


These Small Hours (Still Remain)

by CluelessKitten



Category: DCU, Justice League & Justice League Unlimited (Cartoons)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Genderbend, Genderbent Flash, Team Bonding, Team as Family, oneshots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-08
Packaged: 2019-01-30 17:30:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12658149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CluelessKitten/pseuds/CluelessKitten
Summary: "Do I want to know?" Diana asked.And Superman, who could hear more clearly than the rest of them, shook his head. "Nope."Behind her, J'onn said, probably to Flash, "I do not understand why we had to do this in front of a burning warehouse."





	1. Chapter 1

It occurred to J'onn that they were wasting a lot of time. Not that he had anything better to do with it.

He sat on the floor opposite the Flash and watched her deal another set of some rather colorful cards. 'Uno', she'd called their game because she said – with a cheeky smile at one of the security cameras – that Batman would likely not appreciate gambling in the Watchtower.

Not that he knew what any of that meant. But he'd settled down on the floor with her in one of the larger rooms and decided to see what she was talking about. Pleased by J'onn's willingness to go along with her plan, she'd shown him the cards, what the symbols on them meant and the basic rules before dealing sets of seven to each of them and firmly saying, "I'll explain more to you as we go along."

J'onn was very confused. The card symbols were strange, their colors bright and this was not in any way related to their work. Why was the Flash showing him this? And why was she lying down on the floor instead of sitting on it? And why were they on the floor in the first place? But he couldn't very well ask her yet because all throughout the entire set, she kept up a steady monologue that went on so endlessly it was almost admirable. He wasn't even sure what she talking about anymore, only that she continued to speak.

"Uno," he intoned. He dropped a fragile little card into their scattered pile of rejects. The Flash paused in her words and eyed it seedily. She shuffled her cards around somewhat, a competitive gleam in her lenses, before triumphantly dropping a +4 of her color choice.

"This is usually more intense with more players," she noted, almost apologetically.

J'onn considered this as he drew four cards from the neat pile. He'd raised quite a fuss from her when he'd accidentally mistaken what he should put or take where. "Perhaps you should have requested Hawkgirl to play as well."

"Nah, she's busy today."

"Green Lantern?"

"Off-world."

"Wonder Woman?"

The Flash frowned slightly, fingering the worn edges of her remaining cards. Considering the next move, maybe? She'd allowed J'onn to win their first two rounds, mostly because she still coached him on what to do but now was she playing to win. "She wanted to explore 'Man's World' and settle into her apartment. Which I actually don't know how she got." She paused with a thoughtful side glance at the security camera. "I think Bats is planning on funding everyone on the team who don't have papers in the system. You could probably get a place somewhere if you wanted to."

"I will familiarize myself with Earth a little at a time. Finding a house and a job…" He grimaced. "It is too permanent."

" 'Too permanent'?" she echoed, disturbed. "You're not planning on leaving us any time soon, are you?"

J'onn shook his head. "Not at all. It is simply that Earth is vastly different from my home. Too much of it at once … confuses me." He had no desire for a repeat of the first time he tried to take on a human guise for an entire rotation period.

"Huh. Well, I guess that is kinda natural," the Flash admitted, her voice turning soft with sympathy. "Human cultures are different enough … and you and I are literally worlds away."

He tossed one card after another into the pile: a turn cancel, a +2 and skip player, another skip, and a +4 – and relished the indignant squawk from his human teammate. A pause, then: "Uno."

The Flash pouted and J'onn gave her a little grin.

"Hey, why don't I go with you next time?"

J'onn blinked. "To Earth?"

"No," she said flatly, "To the moon."

He let out a small huff and her expression – what little of it was exposed – softened.

"Yeah, I mean, I can show you around, explain stuff to you… Unless, of course, you wanna go around on your own, which I can completely respect, too."

J'onn dropped his last card and won. "I am not opposed to your company."

"But would you  _like_  it?"

J'onn considered the past hour. 'Uno' still seemed rather a pointless thing and his legs felt odd after sitting on the floor for so long. The Flash's idle chatter had kept his mind from completely wandering away even if he hadn't the capacity to remember everything she said. He hadn't needed to think too deeply, merely letting himself occasionally nod and acknowledge her words. It was simple, peaceful.

Normal.

"Of course," he said.

The Flash broke out into a toothy grin. "Well, that's great! Hey, help me pack all this up, will ya?"

As they organized the mess into something that would fit the box it came from, J'onn couldn't help but wonder again. "Why did you come here today?"

She stilled. "What do you mean?"

"Your shift is still two rotations away and I did not send an alert that required your presence. But you came."

The Flash nodded slowly, closing the card box. "It's my day off and I wanted to spend some time with you and you said you were free today when I asked, so…" She shrugged, her hand rising to cup the back of her neck. She smiled sheepishly. "I know you're fine being on your own but you're part of the team now. So I thought it would be nice to play some cards."

"It was," he said, before she could doubt it. "It was nice."

She smiled then, a real one, relieved. "Great. So, what've you got planned for the rest of the day?"

"I have no plan."

"Really? Shame." The Flash checked her watch. "Well, what do you know? It's almost lunchtime. Wanna beam down to Earth and grab a bite?"

"In our suits?"

She looked down at herself. Shrugged. "Yeah, why not? Saving the world makes people hungry."

J'onn nodded hesitantly. The Flash had been a hero to her city for longer than the Justice League existed – he would trust her judgment on this.

"Awesome! Don't worry, J'onn, people might look a bit – or a  _lot_ – but no one's going to do anything. Oh! There's this really great Chinese place that we can get to real quick. You're gonna  _love_  it." The Flash turned to face him, grasped his shoulders and said, far too seriously to be taken as such, "I am going to show you the  _world_ , J'onn."

He tilted his head, confusion reigning supreme. "I have already seen your world–"

"The culinary world," she amended. "It's one of the most important ones on Earth. And I've pretty much run over every inch of its surface so I would know."

The idea of a planet having its own metaphorical worlds was amusing. J'onn smiled. "I am glad to have a knowledgeable tour guide."

"Damn right," she said confidently, turning on her heel towards the transporter. "Beam us out, J'onn! We're going exploring."


	2. Photographs

"I don't understand what we're doing," Diana repeated as they gathered together in front of a tiny metal box on a three-legged stand.

"We're taking a photograph," Superman explained patiently. At her blank expression, he elaborated, "It's when you … it's like a painting that's taken instantly. We're going to stand and smile at the camera –  _all_  of us, Batman."

The Dark Knight faltered in his new attempt to fade into the background and out of the entire ordeal. He was the only one to protest the idea and the only one actively trying to escape. "I need to check the perimeter," he growled but the League didn't mind that anymore. The hazards of overuse, Diana supposed.

"C'mon, Bats, this will only take a second," Wally insisted. She would – she was, after all, the instigator and the 'camera' and 'tripod' were hers.

"It's been four minutes."

"Setup takes a while," Green Lantern said as he fiddled with the device's settings. "And … there. We'll all fit in  _that_."

"How does it work?" Diana asked.

"Mirrors and light," Hawkgirl said vaguely as Green Lantern sidled up to the rest of the group. "Now smile at it."

A small beeping noise emanated from the small box, speeding up until a flash of light nearly blinded Diana and made stars blink in and out of her vision.

"Is it supposed to do that?" she gasped, reminding herself not to reach for her lasso and destroy the thing.

Superman glanced at her sympathetically. "Yes. And don't move yet."

The Flash ran up to her camera, clicking the buttons and looking at the screen with a critical eye. Then she smiled widely at them. "It's good," she announced with a thumbs up.

Around Diana, the team let out a collective breath and began to disperse. Batman in particular stalked off with a disgusted huff and a stream of unintelligible mutterings.

"Do I want to know?" Diana asked.

And Superman, who could hear more clearly than the rest of them, shook his head and said, "Nope."

Behind her, J'onn said, probably to Flash, "I do not understand why we had to do this in front of a burning warehouse."

* * *

 

 

A week later, the Flash caught up to Diana in one of the Watchtower corridors. "Diana! Wait up!"

Ironic words for the fastest woman on earth.

Diana stopped and turned around. "Yes, Flash?"

A rectangular slip of glossy paper was shoved into her hands. She blinked, turned it around and realized- "A photograph?"

"Yeah." Flash nodded enthusiastically. "The one we took last week – I was finally able to print them out this morning."

"Oh." She'd forgotten all about it. Diana looked at the politely smiling faces, their figures lit up from the back by roaring flames, and fondly rubbed her thumb over the glossy sheen. It looked sturdier than normal paper … but still fragile. "It is good. But what does one do with photographs?"

"Umm, well, people usually put them in picture frames or scrapbooks. That keeps them from getting damaged."

"Then I shall do exactly that," Diana decided. "What will you do with your copy?"

The Flash smiled – for once, a bit shyly. "I have a scrapbook."

"Next time, we will have one taken in front of one of our victories."

"Next time?" Flash looked stunned at the thought but a pleased grin quickly took over. "That sound like a plan. Let's do it." A pause. "Actually, I do have my camera with me right now. Would you like to take a picture now?"

Diana turned away. "I shall gather the others."

"No!" Flash's arm took hold of Diana's wrist. "I meant a picture of the two of us. For my scrapbook. Also, I don't have a tripod to take that kind of shot."

She blinked. "Oh. I would be honored."

Flash smiled, angling the camera lens towards them. It was a bit awkward and Diana didn't see how the Flash could know for sure that they were even within its borders but she owned the camera, knew how it functioned, and so let her teammate place her face right next to Diana's. It was closer and friendlier than when they had taken the group photograph and she tentatively placed her hand on Flash's shoulder. Something more natural shaped her lips now, wider and more affectionate as they squeezed together for the shot.

"Smile!"

_Click-flash_

Diana saw stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully, I'll someday be able to add more chapters to this.
> 
> For the hundredth time since originally posting this fic on ff.net, I wondered to myself why I made this a genderbend when it would have worked perfectly fine without it. Then, I remembered: oh, yeah - this was supposed to be one-shots for another fic I was planning to write. That didn't pan out. But I still want to write it. I really want to. I still have the drafts and someday, when I have the time and creativity to go back to it, I do plan on writing it out. For now, though, this is all I have on it.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to ff.net. I hope you liked it!
> 
> (Summary is from the second chapter.)


End file.
